Monday 6 December 2010

Cold weather, controlled assessments and chaos.

Last week my year 11 students were supposed to sit a written piece of Controlled Assessment as a part of their GCSE French exam.
Unfortunately, my school had to be closed due to the inclement weather and so we had to postpone the assessment.
As a conscientious practitioner (I've never been called that before, not even by myself!) and the fact that I had been left in charge of the department for the week, I contacted Edexcel, the exam board to ask for official clarification as to whether we could "postpone" an assessment, or if we had to give the students a different title.

Here is the email I sent to them:

My year 11 students have prepared for a written controlled assessment which they were to complete at school tomorrow. The school has been closed due to the poor weather. Will we be able to complete the assessment when the school reopens next week, or will we have to do another piece of assessment?

I was impressed to receive a reply almost immediately but not sure what to make of the answer.

Thank you for getting in touch. As far as I am aware, this is a 'first' for the new controlled assessment, and is not a scenario which has been legislated for. My understanding is that Edexcel would take a lenient view in this situation because the circumstances are beyond your control. However, I will pass your question on to the Edexcel office and ask them to confirm with you if their understanding is any different.
I hope this is helpful.
All good wishes,
Richard Marsden
Chair of Examiners, GCSE French

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Given that the exam boards have a vested interest in everyone's students doing very well I would attempt to eat my hat should they then say that you had to do a different assessment!